UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 11-5070

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff Appellee,
v.
RONDALL DION UPSHAW, a/k/a
Christopher Lee Johnson,

Ronald

Dion

Upshaw,

a/k/a

Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of North Carolina, at Raleigh.
Terrence W. Boyle,
District Judge. (4:11-cr-00052-BO-1)

Submitted:

June 12, 2012

Decided:

June 21, 2012

Before AGEE, WYNN, and DIAZ, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Thomas P. McNamara, Federal Public Defender, Stephen C. Gordon,

Assistant Federal Public Defender, Raleigh, North Carolina, for
Appellant.
Thomas G. Walker, United States Attorney, Jennifer
P. May-Parker, Kristine L. Fritz, Assistant United States
Attorneys, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

PER CURIAM:
Rondall

Dion

Upshaw

pled

guilty

without

plea

agreement to possession of ammunition by a convicted felon, 18

U.S.C.

922(g)

prison.
erred

(2006).

He

was

sentenced

to

120

months

in

Upshaw now appeals, claiming that the district court

when

Sentencing

it

applied

Guidelines

the

murder

Manual

cross

reference,

2K2.1(c)(1)(A),

(2010), to calculate his Guidelines range.

see

2X1.1,

U.S.
2A2.1

We affirm.

At sentencing, a detective testified that Upshaw was

one of three men hired in Atlanta to travel to North Carolina to
kill two persons involved in the drug trade.

Upshaw and the

others were supplied with guns and money to accomplish their

mission.

They met the victims under the pretext of conducting a

drug transaction.
transaction.

Shooting began at the location of that sham

The victims fled in their car, with Upshaw and his

accomplices chasing them in another vehicle.

shots

were

fired

into

the

victims

car.

During the chase,

When

apprehended

shortly after his vehicle crashed, Upshaw was in possession of

two loaded 9 mm. magazines.
In light of this testimony, we hold that the district
court

did

not

clearly

err

in

applying

the

murder

cross

reference.

A preponderance of the evidence establishes that

Upshaw

hired

was

to

commit

murder,

and

he

ammunition in an attempt to carry out the murder.

2

possessed

the

See 18 U.S.C.

 1111 (2006) (defining first degree murder); USSG 2A2.1(a)(1)

(stating

that

offense

would

base
have

offense

level

constituted

33

applies

first

if

degree

object
murder

of
if

successful).
We accordingly affirm.

We dispense with oral argument

because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented

in the material before the court and argument would not aid the
decisional process.
AFFIRMED